Citing a “growing number of customers who stretch our policy beyond its intended purposes,” Tim Spangler, REI senior vice president for retail, emailed customers on Tuesday to say they have one year from the purchase of an item at an REI store or REI.com to return or exchange it, except for items purchased from REI-OUTLET — which must be returned within 30 days.

Its “100% Satisfaction Guaranteed” policy does not cover ordinary wear and tear or damage caused by improper use or accidents, the company states. Items with manufacturing defects — even those purchased and then used a few years later — can still be returned at any time. The policy previously allowed customers to return any item, even years after purchase and use.

In a phone interview, Spangler said that the company started noticing a “material impact on our profit” from returns that were more than a year old, beginning three years ago.

“We saw a big disproportionate spike in products more than a year old being returned,” he said. “It’s not a big surprise to get returns more than a year old. But it was the fastest growing sector of returns for us. What we found were some legitimate returns in that group. But we saw a growing number of folks who appeared to be stretching the policy.”

Returning a $2500 carbon road bike after taking a bad crash or driving into your garage with the bike on the roof of your car; returning your child’s clothing because they outgrew it; returning something because you don’t use it anymore (but it is otherwise totally fine); returning shoes because they wore out after a few years, just to turn around and get the exact same pair again; returning a jacket that has broken zippers, rips, and tears all over it.

“It’s not because there are thousands of (these stories), but it’s not what we’re intending to do with our staifiscation guarantee,” Spangler said. “Some products are not meant to last forever. The guarantee still protects 99 percent of the situations you encounter. I’d put it up against any guarantee in the business.”

REI — which stands for Recreational Equipment, Inc. — began as a member-owned co-op in 1938. It has 129 stores in 32 states, with eight in Colorado, including a flagship store in Denver, and has 5.1 million active “members,” who receive a dividend at the end of the year based on the amount of merchandise purchased in that calendar year. The Kent, Wash.-based company had revenues in 2012 of $1.93 billion, a year-over-year increase, but saw profits fall about 4 percent.

I understood that the name of the store really stood for “Return Every Item.” ;>

Will

It was either that or “Rental Equipment Inc.”

It’s really unfortunate that so many people decided to take advantage of the policy that was meant to be there to help the members. Keep in mind – each member of the Co-Op is a part owner of the company. Those that abused the policy are actually just stealing from themselves. If it kept up at this rate – dividends would be affected and the customers wouldn’t get their 10% back every year.

http://kevinrfoote.com/ Kevin R Foote

Net, net. I believe this is an appropriate move that holds true to the REI and member tenants; it’s just big news since we all joke about “Return Everything Inc”. Good for them.
I guess [hope] that REI managers will have the discretion to do whats right for the customer, even if it is way past the 1 year point.

Meanwhile, LL Bean still holds true to their 100% satisfaction. Maybe they don’t have the same abuse in their customer base.

Andres

REI is a cooperative and should not be driven by profit exclusively. Given their prices this will cause me to shop elsewhere.

paulc1978

So you should be able to return worn items or items you broke on your own just because it’s a coop? You do realize that there are other people that shop at REI as well and they don’t want to have to pay higher prices or have less service because someone thinks the world owes them a debt.

Levon Jacobs

Well that will reduce the purchases that I make there drastically. Their prices are way higher than competitors and the only reason I justify that is their return policy.

Mrs. Embopperson

I worked for REI in the customer service department in 1999 – a customer actually brought a snow-ski suit, purchased in 1986, to return. He said the rear had split open and he wanted a full refund. The kicker is, he had the ORIGINAL RECEIPT.

John Q. Public

I’m amazed they had such an unrestricted returns policy in the first place. Given that, I’d say one year is still more than reasonable…nay…almost unheard of at any retail outlet in this day and age. That’s basically giving you a full season to decide if you want to keep the new tent, bike, backpack, kayak, skis, etc. you bought. Bass Pro, Cabela’s, Sports Authority, Dunham’s, etc. would laugh if you walked in with gear and a receipt from eleven months ago.

David Westbrook

I worked there for 2 years in customer service and I don’t doubt for a minute that the people who have legitimate returns past 1 year will still get help. This is a technicality to prevent abuse of the system. They aren’t changing the fact that you can still return anything for any reason, they are simply reducing the amount of time you have to do that in. We would get back items from companies that didn’t even exist anymore. The worst was when people brought back huge hardware purchases (bike, roof rack, GPS) because they used them for 3-5 years heavily and now they were wearing out.

Normal people don’t do this stuff, but 3-5 times a day in high volume stores we had to go through the process of returning something that negated a huge portion of our business.

zengineer

Although I don’t like to hear about the change I do think it is necessary. Unfortunately, there are always a few in the crowd that ruin it for everyone. My only concern is about a product that has a defect that pops up after a year. I bought a pair of Vasque boots that cracked clear across the bottom. The boots had over 450 miles on them so I didn’t return them even though some suggested I could get a refund since it is REI. Some would argue that it was a defect, but for me it was a fair enough value. I’m keeping the Vasque for around the house chores and I bought some Soloman’s for backpacking. By the way, The Vasque boots I bought went from a 5 star when I bought them down to a 3 star present day. Maybe this will help the manufacturer’s to maintain their quality.

alan

“Old” purchases are grandfathered in, according to the REI.com representative I just called.

Travel and Fitness Editor Kyle Wagner grew up in Pittsburgh and lived in Lake County, Ill., and Naples, Fla., before moving to Denver in 1993, where she reviewed restaurants for Westword before moving to The Denver Post in 2002. She considers the best days to be those that involve her teenage daughters and doing something outside, preferably mountain biking or whitewater rafting.

The pursuit of a healthier state through better living. The Denver Post's ColoradoFit blog features local experts on the latest fitness trends, active lifestyles and nutrition options in Colorado and beyond.